I just got back from a month in Europe, and I can report that the European press has successfully portrayed Donald Trump as a "crazy man."  This phrase I heard from many people of different generations.  There is no doubt in their mind.  The coverage has been consistent and relentless.

When I assured people that he is not crazy, that in fact he is a successful businessman, they thought about it.  When I said, Okay, he's not a politician, but how have politicians worked out?, they came around pretty quickly – at least they got off the "everyone knows he's crazy" theme.

Europeans have a lot on their minds, not the least of which is an ongoing invasion of their culture by fighting-age Muslims.  Our election is not high on their list of concerns, so they are drawing conclusions based on snippets of snarky elitist commentary.  Republicans should be engineering some snippets of their own to create a little pushback.

It doesn't take much commonsense point-making to at least puncture the liberal image.  Unfortunately, we are not doing any of that.  The presidential race is focused on a few issues, and there does not seem to be anyone, even in the background, addressing the international image of the Republicans' likely nominee.

Remember when Romney went to Europe?  He was set upon by snarling harpies.  According to the Washington Post: 

The assessments of the trip, which saw Romney visit London, Israel and Poland over the past week, ranged from scathing to resigned among the Republican professional political class.

The Post could hardly contain their glee.  As further evidence of the Republican failure to think ahead to the prospect of actual governance, the same article noted:

'I find this entire trip borderline lunacy,' said one senior Republican strategist granted anonymity to speak candidly. 'Why on earth is he seeking to improve his foreign policy cred when there will not be a single vote cast on that subject?'

It appears that no one did any advance work, and Romney's party showed disdain for anyone who even thought to do so.  They didn't see that lefties would leap on this and manufacture an issue around it.  After the left tried to make something out of the "binders of women" statement, what made anyone in the GOP think they would not hungrily consume his apparent rejection by foreigners?

Time magazine cheerfully reported assorted snark from European sources: 

...French daily Le Figaro, a militantly partisan supporter of conservatives no matter where they hail from, on Tuesday ran a blog post with the headline, 'Is Mitt Romney a Loser?'

Didn't anyone notice that these elitist rags had been dumping on Romney for months?  Have they no contacts?  Do they never leave the confines of the Beltway?

Trump is running against a former secretary of state who was a complete, utter failure at the job.  She not only failed to do any good, but did actual harm and plenty of it.  Trump has had successful international dealings.  Isn't it time to give a call to some of those people who profited from their dealings with Trump and get them to make a statement or two?  You don't need to turn the campaign around; just have one guy think about it and do something.  Get some quotes ready for a counterpunch.

Mrs. Clinton's "experience" is a laughable myth.  There are plenty of people who know this, here and abroad.  It's time to start talking about Trump's non-politician populist theme.  There are plenty of people in the world who have come to realize the dark motives of the "One World" crowd; these people might be receptive to the idea that Trump is not one these globalists, but Mrs. Clinton is.

For example, Trump wants to build a wall to protect us from the surge of migrants of all stripes from the south.  This has become the basis of much hand-wringing and moaning from many American quarters.  In Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orban did this, with considerable success. 

The new border fences, which closed off Hungary from Serbia in September and continued around the border, finally cutting the country off from unwanted incursions from Croatia earlier this month have been so successful the number of illegal migrants has dropped off the charts.

Why not draw a parallel or two?  If opponents want to argue about the faults of the comparison, at least they are discussing it, and thereby discussing Donald Trump in an international context, and thereby widening the playing field.

As was the case for many of you, Donald Trump was not my first choice – he wasn't even my second or third.  But he is the only thing between us and complete corruption of the Supreme Court.  It's time to stop whining and try every single avenue of influence.